Nancy Drew Christmas

Nancy Drew Diaries

by Carolyn Keene, Jorjeana Marie (Narrator)

Nancy finds herself a Christmas mystery in this super special eighteenth book of the Nancy Drew Diaries series, a fresh approach to the classic mystery series.

Nancy is spending her winter vacation at the most beautiful ski resort in Montana. Everything looks perfect, from the spectacular mountain views to the cozy rooms inside complete with fireplaces and holiday decorations. Unfortunately, not all is as jolly as it seems.

Things started to go wrong on her very first day; she hit a bad patch of ice on a run down the slopes and broke her leg in a couple of different places. Then a doctor decided she needed a giant cast and lots of bed rest. It’s been a week of unfortunate events for rest the resort too; there was a sabotaged opening dinner, multiple hotel room break-ins, and a dangerous trap was set for the star chef. And if she thought things couldn’t get any worse, a giant storm is heading her way and may just snow everyone in for days. Trapped in a hotel with someone bent on destruction? Cast or no cast, you know this sleuth is on the case.

It’s almost Christmas and both guests and staff are starting to panic. With all the odds stacked against her, can Nancy solve these crimes in time and save the holiday season? Or is this one Yuletide she’ll wish to forget?

Genres: Mystery, Christmas, Middle Grade, Audiobook, Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens

7 pages, Audiobook

First published September 18, 2018

About the author

Carolyn Keene is a writer pen name that was used by many different people- both men and women- over the years. The company that was the creator of the Nancy Drew series, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired a variety of writers. For Nancy Drew, the writers used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene to assure anonymity of the creator.

Edna and Harriet Stratemeyer inherited the company from their father Edward Stratemeyer. Edna contributed 10 plot outlines before passing the reins to her sister Harriet. It was Mildred Benson (aka: Mildred A. Wirt), who breathed such a feisty spirit into Nancy's character. Mildred wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, including the first three. It was her characterization that helped make Nancy an instant hit. The Stratemeyer Syndicate's devotion to the series over the years under the reins of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams helped to keep the series alive and on store shelves for each succeeding generation of girls and boys. In 1959, Harriet, along with several writers, began a 25-year project to revise the earlier Carolyn Keene novels. The Nancy Drew books were condensed, racial stereotypes were removed, and the language was updated. In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.

Other writers of Nancy Drew volumes include Harriet herself, she wrote most of the series after Mildred quit writing for the Syndicate and in 1959 began a revision of the first 34 texts. The role of the writer of "Carolyn Keene" passed temporarily to Walter Karig who wrote three novels during the Great Depression. Also contributing to Nancy Drew's prolific existence were Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Nancy Axelrod, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., and Margaret Scherf.

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the year almost up, I wanted to squeeze in one more Nancy Drew book before the calendar turned its page to 2024. I have been a lifelong reader of mysteries, and a few of my goodreads friends reintroduced me to the teen detective from River Heights this year. My preferred series featuring her has been these diaries, which places Nancy Drew and her friends in a modern setting. If other king running detective series can modernize by using computers and updated technology, than Nancy Drew can as well. I was not planning on reading this particular case, but it happened to be at the library when I went to return my last batch of books, and the Hardy Boys are in it. How could I resist?

Nancy and her father Carson Drew helped Archie Leach of Grand Sky Resort solve a case just in time for the ski lodge’s reopening. Leach gifted them a weeklong ski vacation in appreciation just in time for the holidays. Only Mr Drew got stuck in River Heights on a deposition and storms moved in, leaving Nancy to go on vacation on her own. Normally, Nancy has her best friends Bess and George along for the ride, but they were not gifted a free trip, so this time she is flying solo. As soon as Nancy arrives at the lodge, it appeared that someone wanted to sabotage either her or the lodge or both. She incurred accidents, the lodge suffered from pranks gone bad, and Archie Leach was at wit’s end, but even he begged Nancy to stop investigating because he feared for her safety. Not much will curtail Nancy Drew, even the leg she broke on the first morning out on the slopes; however, Leach is the boss, and it is tricky to conduct an investigation from a wheelchair.

Enter the Hardy Boys. I know I had read a Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys series when I was in high school. I did my own investigation of my library’s card catalog, and that series no longer exists. Just to my luck, Frank and Joe happened to be doing their own investigation of another sort at the Grand Sky Resort, looking into the development of a pipeline that would give environmentalists headaches. I remembered enjoying the Hardy Boys cases I read as a kid because they tended to get into more adventures than Nancy Drew did. Perhaps it was the era that these were written in: that men went off on grand adventures and women sat at home and used their heads. I enjoy a combination of the two, and I got that here when Nancy and the Hardy Boys team up to see who could possibly be sabotaging the lodge. With FaceTime at their disposable, Bess and George get involved as well, creating a dream detecting team. Each member brought their own strengths to the table, making it easy for all involved to crack the case, even when things began to get dangerous and risky to them.

Between the pranks, the supposed hunt for gold on lodge property, and the threat of a pipeline, Nancy and the Hardys crack the case. The dream team is reunited along with their families in time for a picture perfect holiday at the Grand Sky Lodge’s winter wonderland. I enjoyed this collaboration with the Hardy Boys and hope that there are more cases with them involved going forward. This diary series has been enjoyable because Bess and George and now the Hardy Boys bring their own skill sets to the table, allowing Nancy to crack her cases all that faster. While not the exact holiday anyone was hoping for, it all worked out in the end. Now to squeeze in yet another Nancy Drew book before the end of the year.

4 stars

[✨ kathryn ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
I mean...it was ok. Nothing super amazing, though.
There were a couple of epic twists and turns but not enough for me to love the book fully!
Also, Nancy Drew is a little insufferable??

[Tisha (IG: Bluestocking629) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75 Stars.

1 star for the glittery snowy Christmasy cover. So pretty and textured!

1 star for the inclusion of the Hardy Boys (I pictured a young Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson in each of their scenes. Hi Shaun! How you doin?)

.75 stars for the mystery (they gave me my favorites: hidden passageways and a maze).

As far as the story you ask??

Preach preach preach: green, sustainable business, environment, people over profits, there is no planet B, stop the pipeline, corporate greed, corrupt law enforcement...

Dear lord stop! I'm not saying I agree or disagree with any of the above. I'm saying I'm reading a Nancy Drew Mystery as a form of escapism. If I want to see all this prattling bloviating preaching I'd go to Facebook.

I learned how to speak properly from this book however, so there is that. The old me would say I love Nancy Drew books. The new me will now say I love Nancy Drew books as long as they were written in the last century.

Oh how I miss the 1900s.

[Readaholic Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent novel with an unexpected and interesting twist! I recommend it to all Nancy Drew fans.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

4.5 Stars for the mystery
0.5 Stars for the story

I wanted to love this story. I really did. It features my favorite teen detective and takes place at Christmas. What more could I want?

How about less preaching about how good it is to be green and leave a small carbon footprint or how corporations are greedy or law enforcement officials don't know how to do their job and abuse their power?

Yep, this book intended for 8- to 12-year-old readers is full of "ripped from the headlines" propaganda extolling the virtues of living green, griping that corporations -- especially oil companies -- are greedy because they want to put in a pipeline that will cross a small sliver of property that the owner intends to use as a nature conservatory, and features a sheriff who arrests one character without probable cause and refuses to arrest another -- who admitted he did the deeds -- when the individual was guilty of, at a minimum, malicious mischief and vandalism. The problem is that the book comes across as more of a sledgehammer in making its point than being informative as to the reasons why the characters actually believe the way they do.

Yet the book does have some good points. There is an excellent mystery, with Nancy Drew taking on the Jimmy Stewart role from "Rear Window." The Hardy Boys are involved. And there's a wonderful twist at the end of the book that had me smiling.

[Anubha (BooksFullOfLife, LifeFullOfBooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy Drew books were my childhood favorites but I don't know whether I have outgrown them or this book was the author's one of the inept works. It was an okay mystery plot about someone trying to ruin the business at a ski resort where Nancy and her friends were guests. It was a tad bit boring.

[Jordan Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, I did not enjoy this book. It doesn’t hold the same writing style or charm as the original Nancy Drew books. Although it was marketed as a Christmas book, it seemed like the author forgot about this and would drop in a Christmassy detail every few chapters. It also read like a political commentary - it heavily mentioned conservation efforts, renewable energy, riots, police brutality, protests, and non-profits. I’m going to stick to reading the original Nancy Drew books.

[Jocelyn (jocelyn.reads.books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

EDIT: Upon further thought, even though I don't usually rate books I DNF, I'm rating this one, in part because the synopsis is deceptive and the propaganda was so heavy handed. Did they really need to mention police in riot gear in the first 9% when we are led to believe this is a cozy Christmas mystery?

DNF at 10%. Anyone who knows me knows I am all about saving the environment, but the amount of propaganda in this book is wild. I don't need to hear about hybrid cars, pipelines, or global warming every other sentence. This is a Nancy Drew book for kids 🙄. Can we let kids be kids? There are ways to include these topics in the story without shoving it down throats in what I thought would be a cozy Christmas mystery.

[Apurva Khadye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one a lot. I don't know why I haven't picked up Nancy and Hardy boys collaboration of classic collection before. I am definitely going to pick one up now. As for the mystery its really great. Next to impossible to guess whudunit. For middle grade standards that is really good.
Nancy is at a ski resort and not so surprising she falls in for a mystery quite literally will Nancy save the day? Well you read it. Bess and George are not with Nancy at resort but she has got help from Hardy boys or boy to be precise. Their contribution is less though. I felt that they were added as the substitute for muscles of Ned and smartness of George. I would have loved their more active role. However, their collaboration was good to see. It's nice to have more detectives around.
There were few scenes where I had to hold my breath it was that scary people I thought we will almost loose Nancy in this one but we don't.
Overall this book, definately was upto my expectations.

[Sid-knee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, low stakes, enjoyable read!! I sure do like a mystery and this was my first Nancy Drew! I didn’t realize that the author ’Carolyn Keene’ is a pseudonym for multiple authors, but that’s a cool way to have new Nancy Drew books for nearly 100 years.

[Mainon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a lifelong fan of Nancy Drew, but until now I haven't purposely picked up a Nancy Drew Diaries title. I thought it would be "too young" for me, maybe in the vein of the ND "Clue Crew" series that seems targeted at elementary-school-aged kids. (Though it's worth noting that the original Nancy Drew, although she was in her late teens, was published as a "children's series" back in the first half of the 20th century, so maybe one ought not turn one's nose up at books based on their target audience.) In any case, my fears were unfounded. This Nancy, very much in the spirit of the original, goes off on a ski vacation by herself, practically without knowing a soul at the ski resort. Her father is supposed to join her, but of course he gets delayed by bad weather and never actually shows up (a plot device that made me think wistfully of the Her Interactive Nancy Drew video games, which, when they were still being produced, often used a similar device to explain why Nancy had so much free time on her hands to explore and solve mysteries). The unfolding mystery was believable and well-conceived for modern times -- featuring such modern, timely characters as politicians receiving shady corporate contributions, environmental activists who might be unscrupulous in their methods, celebrity chefs famous for their TV appearances, sexist law enforcement officers, and even a proposed oil pipeline that predictably divides the townsfolk. There was also plenty of old-school charm, however: an overly helpful front desk attendant, a rumor about buried treasure and secret passages, and even a couple of teen detectives who wind up sort of investigating the same case!
As a lawyer, I was pleased to see that the legal aspects of the action (whether regulatory, criminal, or contractual) seemed to be fairly accurately portrayed. As a mystery lover, I was pleased to find a couple of plot twists that I hadn't seen coming. Surprises and stakes-raising were found in perfect proportion, and all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
It doesn't hurt that it's also a perfect start to the holidays: just reading about snow starts to put me in the holiday spirit! Although there's less "Christmas" to the story than one would think from the title, it's good wintry fun.

[Natalie]

The writing quality was poor - it seemed like every other sentence ended with an exclamation point or involved the second person which is a big pet peeve of mine. The sentences were also poorly constructed.

Nancy was quite the know-it-all and I didn’t like her as a character. The inclusion of the Hardy Boys didn’t really add anything to the plot. I would have preferred more Ned, Bess and George.

I don’t typically enjoy books that push an agenda. I read books as escapism and don’t enjoy it in my reading.

[Lydia Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was INTENSE!!! Like, imagine being chased in a maze by 2 guys with chainsaws, falling out a window, breaking your leg skiing, breaking your leg again, wiping your hands with a pepper infused towel, almost dying by an avalanche. Like, I would die lol.

But the real question is, who puts a bench in the middle of a frozen lake?!?

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy Drew books were among my childhood favorites so when I saw this book I felt it would be nice to revisit with my granddaughter. We listened to the audiobook which isn't listed here and the narration was pretty good. I wasn't sure in the beginning about it but it became a fun holiday adventure as it went along. A few surprises and an added bonus of Nancy teaming up with the Hardy Boys! We did enjoy it.

[A.L. Sowards]

Listened to this one with the kids while driving to swim lessons and back over the last few weeks. It happened to be the only Nancy Drew audiobook available from the library, so we did a little Christmas in July. The kids enjoyed it. The Hardy Boys made an appearance in this one, so that was fun. It’s one of the more recent/modern Drew Books.

[Bookworm 🐛 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book on Christmas and forgot to a review on it. I wanted to read a mystery book with some Christmasy vibes so I went to the collection of Nancy Drew books I had and pick the Chirstmasyiest (which is not a word) one up.
I haven't read Nancy Drew in a long time so I took me some time to remember some of the characters. It had amazing twists and turns you didn't know where you were going. I wanted a little more intense plots, but I didn't really get that from this book. I just read this book for the spirit of Christmas.....and because I didn't have another mystery book I haven't read. :)

[Bargain Sleuth Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

For this and other book reviews, visit www.bargain-sleuth.com

I’ve read a lot of reviews of A Nancy Drew Christmas, and not one of them mentioned the obvious nod to old Hollywood and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window with the plot of the book. The resort owner’s name is Archie Leach, which was the real-life name of Cary Grant, who appeared in four of Hitchcock’s best films. Nancy meets a family whose kid’s names are Grace, Kelly and Jimmy, otherwise known as Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart, the stars of Rear Window. If you’ve never seen the movie, Jimmy Stewart spends the entire movie in a leg cast, staring out the window at the neighbors across the street with his binoculars or high resolution camera lens. Nancy spends almost the whole book in a leg cast, spending a lot of her time staring out the window of the horseshoe-shaped resort at the rooms across the courtyard, using binoculars. Even the ending, which I won’t give away, is a direct rip-off of Rear Window,

Spoiler alert: It was weird to not have Bess and George along, but have no fear, the publishers figured out the perfect companions to help Nancy while she’s out of commission: The Hardy Boys. While Frank is quickly banned from the resort, Nancy works well with Joe, who does the “leg work” of the case. Nancy does rely on George’s hacking skills so Bess and George are not completely absent. Carson Drew is conveniently snowed in at home, so Nancy is mostly on her own for this book, which is twice as long as a normal Diaries entry.

There’s a lot of hit-you-over-the-head info dumps about being green, growing your own food, the potential environmental destruction of putting an oil pipeline on the resort’s land, maintaining a sustainable business, how law enforcement can have an agenda, how most mainstream businesses are about corporate greed, crooked politicians, and creating a smaller carbon footprint. It’s a lot to lay on a kid. If you’re not as liberal as the modern Nancy Drew, you might not like this book.

Because of the book’s longer length, more suspects than normal are thrown in to throw off the reader, some more obvious than the others. I figured out the bad guy about half-way through the book, so I imagine most kids will be left guessing until the end. Even if you’ve seen Rear Window, you might be surprised at who the “bad guy” is. And the book is not hit you over the head about Christmas itself, so even if you don’t celebrate the holiday, you might like the mystery.

[Eric Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally got around to finishing this! This is a very good ND book! I was glad to see Nancy not scared and weak in this one after what happened to her in the last book. She is smart, very knowledgeable, brave, and very determined to solve the mystery in this one. Unfortunately though, she still has a characteristic from the last book, being scared of horror movies. Why? I also didn't really like what Nancy said and/or thought here and there, it didn't seem like Nancy. But I'm glad to see most of her true character traits are here in this book. But I noticed there’s a lot of spelling errors in this book. Why is that? However, the mystery and action was suspenseful and the characters were pretty great, my favorite being the chef. There was quite a surprise in the middle and I was quite pleased to see Nancy work with these two individuals. Their interactions together were great. Overall, this is a very good book with a nice ending, I can see how much work the publishers put into this book, the beautiful jacket, red snowflake illustrated end-papers, illustrated board book cover, and a 300+ page story. I hope this is a sign of good things for Nancy and this series, and that she'll continue being smart, brave, and determined. 4 stars.

[Thereadingbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Nancy Drew Christmas by Carolyn Keene

This one was a decent mystery with a sky resort having difficulties and Nancy is on the job. Nancy breaks her leg and still goes forward to try to solve a mystery. Oh by the way the Hardy boys show up in the mystery as well. I do like the message about the resort wanting to go green and not supporting non green businesses.

There were a few twists and it made the story enjoyable. I still felt though it fell just short maybe because Nancy Drew just doesn't bring me back to my younger years when I really loved reading the mysteries of her and the Hardy boys.

I still think it is worth the read it has a decent mystery with the twists but maybe more for a younger person like a teen would enjoy this book much better.

[V. Arrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Bess fluttered her eyelashes, and Joe melted. George ignored Frank, and Frank melted. And Ned kissed me on the cheek, and I melted."

I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would! I tend to be very "womp-womp" about the Hardy Boys, but this series handled them much better than most of the Nancy Drew canon (and there's SO MUCH Nancy Drew canon)! I also love anything that's a Rear Window homage, and to get both Rear Window and The Shining in one fell swoop was a delight.

[Michelle Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

My tween daughter really liked listening to this on our way to the mountains. It was her first taste of a Nancy Drew and. She enjoyed the mystery. A little like her older novels, but so much more modern.

[RedFoxBookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has more twists than any other book I've read before! It was so much fun to read.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my last book of 2025 and it took me two weeks to finish it. I wasn't motivated to listen and I ended up borrowing the ebook in order to scooch in under the deadline. I hadn't read a Nancy Drew book in over a year because I was waiting for it to be season-appropriate. Nancy Drew Christmas took place on the snowy banks of Colorado where she was called to help open a new ski resort. Fast forward to our girl detective being sabotaged and breaking her leg! I couldn't believe my ears and she spent most of the book sleuthing from a wheelchair while doing her best Rear Window impression. I've never seen the movie but I caught the ham-handed references. I also loved that there was a Hardy Boys crossover who helped Nancy solve the case. Bess and George weren't present and I missed half of them. This was a cute case, but the doubled length was very evident due to the fact that it was a Christmas special. There were too many layers to this case and I couldn't quite connect the strings. I'm excited to be back in the rhythm of things and jump back into Nancy Drew Diaries without the time-sensitive background. My favorite quasi-trespasser is back in the rotation!

[Sabby Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first book in the "Nancy Drew Diaries" series. As someone who has read many of the older books and played the PC games, this book made me cringe. Nancy seems weaker in this series, and not the smart, confident heroine we've come to know and love. She meets Frank and Joe Hardy for the first time (again) in this book, and calls them "kids" multiple times, despite being close in age to them. The mention of specific modern technologies by name means this book will become outdated quickly.I also felt that the insertion of politics was unnecessary. Despite the title being A Nancy Drew Christmas, there was very little mention or involvement of Christmas. Multiple parts of the setting and plot were reused from an older book, #174 "A Taste of Danger." Overall, the story itself was decently okay, though.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Nancy Drew in a big hotel over winter I feared it might have gone the way of the Shining, but luckily it didn't. However, there were some scarry bits.

I wouldn't have considered reading this on my own but it was a great choice for my daughter and me. We both really enjoyed it and I was very eager to read more to learn who dunnit. Having the Hardy Boys make an appearance did make my younger inner me scream for joy. A fun read!

[Ann Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fell in love with the Nancy Drew mystery stories as a young reader which led to my lifelong love of a good mystery.

This is a modern mystery featuring Nancy Drew as a young adult without her side kicks Bess and George or her Dad. The mystery is set in Montana during the Christmas season at a ski resort. The Hardy boys make an appearance during the story and help Nancy solve the mystery at the ski resort.

Enjoy this wacky adventure with a modern Nancy Drew.

[Alexandria Massey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I probably would have liked this better if I hadn’t listened to it. The narrator’s voice was giving too much Barbie (derogatory) at points and it wasn’t feeling as Nancy Drew as usual. It felt like a fever dream to hear Nancy Drew check Instagram for clues. I guess they are updating it for the times, but that felt illegal. I always love a Drew/Hardy crossover and this was cute and fun. Also, a very solid Christmas theme.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Man this one was dumb. Hardy Boys inclusion was painful and useless. Way too long as well. So much talking. If everyone stopped explaining in detail what they planned to do the mystery might be a little tougher to crack.

[Emily S · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love both Nancy Drew and Christmas, but this new version of Nancy in the current age is painful - she comes across as arrogant, relying on tech instead of smarts, and immature. I will return to the original mysteries here on out when it comes to everyone’s favorite girl detective 🕵️‍♀️

[Ananya · Rating 2 out of 5]

The execution was simply not there with this new age Nancy Drew novel. Like, cute idea to include the Hardy Boys but it was weak. I prefer the original Nancy Drew books but maybe I’m just getting older lol